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Iron Range Maidens win first roller derby bout
Congratulations to the Iron Range Maidens on winning their first roller derby bout Saturday night in Grand Forks. It is one thing to talk about starting a roller derby team. It is another to form a confederation of inexperienced women ranging in age from college to middle age and begin drilling them. It is another…
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COLUMN: When a mining town disappears
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. When a mining town disappearsBy Aaron J. Brown When you think of a website you don’t imagine permanence. You imagine something fleeting, changing, soon to be buried by the past. My first website was on the old GeoCities…
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Melin in St. Paul, to take office early next week
I spoke with Rep.-elect Carly Melin (DFL-Hibbing) this morning on her way to St. Paul. She’ll spend the rest of this week setting up her new office and learning her committee assignments. She confirmed that she’ll be in the office triplex with Reps. Tom Rukavina (DFL-Virginia) and Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam) sharing the services of one…
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Carly Melin wins House 5B special election
Carly Melin, the progressive 25-year-old attorney who stunned a deep DFL primary field, won the District 5B special election Tuesday for the State House of Representatives in the heart of the Iron Range. Melin defeated Republican Paul Jacobson, a Hibbing juvenile counselor and minister, with 60 percent of the vote. Jacobson carried more than 35…
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LIVE BLOG: House 5B Special Election Night on the Range
9:34: Melin has a chance to pull 60 percent. Could be close. No less than 59 percent. 8:59: MinnesotaBrown projects DFLer Carly Melin to win District 5B House race with just under 60 percent. 8:51: Large, important bird has told me Melin wins Fredenberg. It’s all over. 8:50: Napkin math time. Might have big announcement…
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House 5B update: Election Day on the Iron Range
Today voters in House District 5B in northern Minnesota head to the polls to elect their next state representative, either DFLer Carly Melin, Republican Paul Jacobson or Independence Party candidate Cynthia Kafut-Hagen. The winner will replace former State Rep. Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm) who resigned to become Commissioner of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation last month.…
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MPR: "Iron Range youth are damned if they leave, damned if they come back"
Minnesota Public Radio features another of my commentaries today “Iron Range youth are damned if they leave, damned if they come back.” That headline ought to get your attention. I don’t mean literally damned, if that helps. Rather I’m talking about the sense of being emotionally uprooted when you leave a place like the Range…
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COLUMN: Rest not easy in these modern times, but welcome them
This is my column for the Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011 edition of the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Rest not easy in these modern times, but welcome themBy Aaron J. Brown The winter presses on, a dry, cold march through snow to the oil tank to see if we’ll make it another couple months without ordering fuel…
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Watch another House 5B forum online
For those of you who missed the House 5B forum at Hibbing Community College you can watch a shorter debate from Friday night on WDSE Channel 8’s Almanac North program online (Show #1920). We’re still going to try to get the video uploaded on the other debate. Have I ever mentioned rural broadband as an…
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Cynthia Kafut-Hagen hopes Tuesday is Independence Day in Range special election
On Tuesday, voters head to the polls to weigh in on the House 5B Special Election to replace Rep. Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm) in one of the Iron Range’s most vital legislative districts. I offered all the candidates the opportunity to share campaign statements with my readers. DFLer Carly Melin and Republican Paul Jacobson both participated…
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Minnesota the city-state
Samuel Arbesman created this map showing the states most dominated by a single metropolitan area. He calls them “city-states.” Minnesota is the 11th most metro-dominated state, with 59 percent of its population located within the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Other states generally fall within the category of sparsely populated or dominated by several similarly sized…
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State GOP continues tone deaf blundering on Range district
The state GOP has again oddly and ham-handedly interjected itself into the House 5B special election on the Iron Range. On Thursday, Republican chair Tony Sutton asked Hibbing City Clerk Pat Garrity, who has endorsed DFLer Carly Melin, to recluse himself from his duties as chief election official in the district’s largest city. “Given Hibbing…
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Packed hall, civil talk, a few sparks for 5B debate in Hibbing
Candidates for the House District 5B Special Election on Feb. 15 participated in a forum last night hosted by the Hibbing Community College Student Senate. More than 150 people showed up, including supporters of Republican Paul Jacobson, DFLer Carly Melin and IP candidate Cynthia Kafut Hagen. The Duluth News Tribune‘s John Myers wrote a good…
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House 5B forum is today
REMINDER: Tonight’s House District 5B election forum sponsored by the Hibbing Community College Student Senate will begin at 6 p.m. in the L10 lecture hall at the college (Enter through the 25th Street side). The three candidates Paul Jacobson (Republican), Cynthia Kafut Hagen (Independence Party) and Carly Melin (Democratic Farmer Labor) have all confirmed their…
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Check out the gun show in 5B
Looks like another day of the House 5B special election focused on attacks instead of issues. The state GOP sent out a nasty mailer attacking DFL nominee Carly Melin. The Duluth News Tribune reports that DFLers today compared it to the sorts of veiled references to violence seen prior to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle…